Human Events

Poor Judgment:

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on

August 5, 2004

Even as the people in Missouri were voting to defend traditional marriage, a Washington State judge discovered a right to same-sex “marriage” buried in that state’s constitution–even though state law expressly defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

“The denial to the plaintiffs of the right to marry constitutes a denial of substantive due process,” King County Superior Court Judge William Downing ruled August 4. “The exclusion of same-sex partners from civil marriage and the privileges attendant thereto is not rationally related to any legitimate or compelling state interest and is certainly not narrowly tailored toward such an interest,” he said. Advocates of a Federal Marriage Amendment are pointing to this decision as more evidence that Congress needs to enact such an amendment.